Every fairytale needs a happy ending, and after 11 albums of love, heartbreak, and shattered dreams, Taylor Swift has found her Prince Charming. But after she announced her engagement to Travis Kelce, what will Swift's newfound happiness mean for her music?
Swift's greatest gift as a lyricist is the way she weaves her own story into her songs, balancing intricate, specific detail with universal themes of love, hope, heartbreak, and betrayal.
From the very beginning, the musician's love life has been the connective tissue of her writing. Her debut single, Tim McGraw, written during a school maths class, was all about her then-boyfriend, Drew Dunlap.
Believing they'd break up before he left for college (a premonition that came true), she wrote a song to commemorate the times they'd slow-danced in the moonlight to the car radio: When you think Tim McGraw/I hope you think of me.
It's a timeless story—one that's destined to be repeated at fresher's weeks across the country this autumn—and set in motion a career-long narrative about Swift's romantic tribulations.
She's written about emotionally unavailable men (Jake Gyllenhaal, All Too Well), falling for a bad boy (Harry Styles, I Knew You Were Trouble), and rebound romances (Tom Hiddleston, Getaway Car).
Throughout it all, she's been aware of the obsessive level of debate around her relationships. In Shake It Off, she poked fun at the media's discourse: I go on too many dates / But I can't make them stay / At least, that's what people say.
Now, it's reductive to cast Swift's back catalogue (274 songs and counting) to a soap opera about her love life. She's written insightful and witty lyrics about the media (You wouldn't last an hour in the asylum where they raised me, Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?); about the joyous bonds of friendship (We're happy, free, confused and lonely in the best way, 22); and even getting away with murder (I've cleaned enough houses to know how to cover up a scene, No Body No Crime).
But not for nothing has she been called pop's greatest diarist and the maestro of memory.
So what happens when she settles down? As her friend and collaborator Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine once pointed out: Contentment is a creativity killer.
For proof, look no further than Bruce Springsteen. In 1991, he married his bandmate Patti Scialfa, disbanded the E Street Band, and relocated to California.
Springsteen celebrated his newfound serenity with two albums, Human Touch and Lucky Town—but they are regularly ranked as his worst.
Female artists have frequently used settling down as a source of inspiration. Madonna's Ray Of Light, written after the birth of her daughter Lourdes, eschewed her brash 1980s persona for a more spiritual, psychedelic sound. Amid stiff competition, it remains her best album.
When Beyoncé revealed her baby bump on stage at the 2011 MTV Awards, columnists speculated what it might mean for her music. But her next album, 2013's Beyoncé, was a turning point—an experimental album that set the template for her career's third act.
Swift has already proven she can write affecting songs from a place of happiness. Her six-year relationship with Joe Alwyn generated songs like Delicate and Lover, which rank among her best work.
She's already written two songs about Kelce, both of which appeared on last year's album, The Tortured Poets Department.
On So High School, she described how his chivalry restored her faith in men, while The Alchemy rhapsodized about the moment he won the Super Bowl and came running over to her.
The star recently confirmed that her forthcoming 12th album, The Life of a Showgirl, will be more upbeat than the rest of her material. Speaking on the New Heights podcast, she said it was recorded during her record-breaking Eras Tour, marking the early days of her relationship with Kelce.
It just comes from the most infectiously joyful, wild, dramatic place I was in in my life... and that effervescence has come through on this record, she said. To sum it up succinctly, Kelce described the album as 12 bangers.
In conclusion: Will Taylor’s music reflect her newfound happiness? It would be unexpected if it didn’t. But let’s not forget her previous period of domestic bliss, which also prompted a shift away from diary-entry lyrics. The pandemic-era albums embraced fictional storytelling and organic soundscapes, marking a turning point in her cultural acclaim.
If marriage prompts another shift, it could open up a new chapter in her career, with a different kind of fairytale emerging.
